For the first time, Iraqi oil exports via Ceyhan, Turkey, reach 500,000 barrels per day.
For the first time, Iraqi oil exports via Ceyhan, Turkey, reach 500,000 barrels per day.
2026-11-02
Shafaq News – Kirkuk
Three oil sources in the production, pipeline and export sectors of the state-owned North Oil Company, affiliated with the Ministry of Oil, revealed on Sunday evening that the total exports of Iraqi oil through the Turkish port of Ceyhan have increased to 500,000 barrels per day, coming from the Kirkuk, Basra and Kurdistan Region fields, in an increase that is the first of its kind since the resumption of export operations through the oil transport system towards Turkish territory.
Sources told Shafaq News Agency that the export rate has increased to 500,000 barrels per day, after it had been around 350,000 barrels per day, which means adding 150,000 barrels per day to the quantities being pumped towards the Ceyhan port, noting that the increase came as a result of introducing new quantities of oil produced in the Basra fields into the export system via the Iraqi-Turkish pipeline.
The sources added that the Iraqi government worked to increase the quantities of oil allocated for export by adopting a mechanism to transport oil produced in the Basra fields by tankers to the Khormala field, and then to introduce it into the transport system linked to the Iraqi-Turkish pipeline, passing through the Kurdistan Region, and reaching the Turkish port of Ceyhan, which represents the main outlet for exporting these quantities to global markets.
She explained that this mechanism contributed to increasing the exported quantities, by taking advantage of the infrastructure of the pipeline extending towards Turkish territory, and adding the production of the Basra fields alongside the oil extracted from the Kirkuk fields and the Kurdistan Region fields, indicating that the new quantities are transported by land before reaching the connection point with the pipeline system.
According to the sources, the total exported quantities are currently distributed as follows: 125,000 barrels per day from the Kirkuk oil fields belonging to the North Oil Company, 175,000 barrels per day from the production of the Kurdistan Region fields, while the share of the Basra fields is about 200,000 barrels per day, which are transported by tankers to the Khurmala field, in preparation for pumping them towards the Ceyhan port.
Thus, Basra oil quantities constitute about 40 percent of the current total exports via this route, compared to 35 percent of the production of the region’s fields, and 25 percent of the Kirkuk fields, according to figures provided by oil sources, bringing the total of the three quantities to half a million barrels per day.
The sources confirmed that the rise in exports to this level represents a shift in the volume of quantities passing through the Iraqi-Turkish pipeline, especially after the inclusion of Basra oil in the transport and export operations, in addition to the production coming from the northern fields and the fields of the region, which allowed for an increase in the energy used in the export route towards Turkey.
The total increase compared to the previous rate is about 150,000 barrels per day, an amount equivalent to about 43 percent of the export level that was in place before the recent increase, according to figures revealed by the three sources.
These figures confirm the widening scope of the contribution of various Iraqi oil fields to export operations through the Ceyhan port, after the quantities were mainly dependent on the production of Kirkuk and the region, with Basra fields entering with a share of 200,000 barrels per day, according to oil sources who spoke to Shafaq News Agency.
shafaq.com
